DECANTING QUESTION - BIG 3 LACQUER-MAKERS

[Art Anderson]

I've had some Testors enamels bubble mysteriously on occasion if sprayed from the can on to a part. The paint hits, flows out beautifully slick, and then will bubble a bit, but only on a sharp edge.

Not contamination, or too-wet spraying of the material, cause I kinda know how to prep and spray. Very odd. The wheels on my heavily re-worked '32 Ford gluebomb are Testors dark red enamel, and 3 of 4 wheels (painted at different times) bubbled only on the outer rims. After assuming contamination and stripping them and re-prepping/re-painting several times, the only way I could get rid of the bubbles was to let the paint cure completely for weeks, and sand / polish the rims...VERY carefully.

Hammering the paint on would have resulted in bubbles where the paint was thickest, and pooled...not where it was thin on the sharp edges.

At this point, I can only assume this was some odd dissolved-propellant gassing phenomenon...but it still doesn't make much sense.

Or, painting in humid conditions. I've seen, and had that happen many years ago when all I had was rattle cans, and used the stuff in high humidity. Humidity can cause otherwise wet paint to "skin over" before the propellant has had time to "gas out", so the propellant (which used to be FREON, now butane or propane in a lot of cases) had no place to go but to collect into tiny bubbles. One of the reasons I bought my first airbrush in early 1962.

Art

[935k3]

In my almost 50 years of decanting spray cans into airbrushes, I've never experienced what you mention, UNLESS the vent hole in the color jar is clogged.

Art

I use gravity feed only and I have had it happen with no lid on the cup.

[Art Anderson]

I use gravity feed only and I have had it happen with no lid on the cup.

I can see where gravity feed could cause that problem!

Art